In recent years, apparatus has been developed for treating lawns which is capable of performing in one operation the steps of seeding, fertilizing, rolling, and aerating lawns and for dispensing chemicals to control weeds, fungus, and insects. Such lawn-treating apparatus usually includes a plurality of hoppers for dispensing seed and fertilizer to the lawn. In the past, the size of the feed openings of the hoppers has been manually adjusted by an operator sliding a closure member between a completely open and completely closed position so as to dispense the proper amount of seed, fertilizer, etc. However, the size to which the hopper feed opening was adjusted was not very accurate, as there were no means for indicating to the operator the size of the opening. As a result, in many cases, the amount of material dispensed would be above or below the required amounts, which could result in improperly treated lawns and less than optimum lawn care. In addition, as the apparatus moves across a typical lawn, it is jolted about and the adjusting mechanism, which has been set by the operator, has a tendency to be moved by such jolts to vary the size of the hopper feed opening. This also results in more or less material being dispensed to the lawn and less than optimum lawn care. Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide means for positively adjusting the size of the hopper feed openings so that they would not be susceptible to the settings being accidentally changed by jolts or any other means during movement of the apparatus across the lawn. In addition, it would also be desirable to provide means for indicating to the operator the size of the hopper feed openings so that such openings may be uniformly set to accurately dispense the proper amounts of material.
Typically, such apparatus includes a distribution plate for distributing the material dispensed from the hoppers to the lawn. However, it has been found that such distribution plates have a tendency of dispensing some material upwardly into the compartment of the apparatus which houses the mechanical components for controlling the aerating, rolling, and chemical dispensing mechanisms of the apparatus. As a result, the dispensed material, such as the seed and fertilizer, has a tendency to build up and/or become embedded within the compartment and thereby interfere with the operation of and/or damage such components. Accordingly, it would also be desirable to provide such apparatus with means for avoiding such damage and also for eliminating the loss of material which becomes embedded therein.
It is also typical of such lawn-care apparatus to engage lawn obstructions as it traverses a typical lawn area. As a result, the distribution plate, which is only a few inches from the ground, in many cases engages such obstructions and is damaged so that it has to be either repaired or replaced. Further, when the distribution plate is damaged, there is a greater tendency for the material to be dispensed upwardly into the compartment, and the need for providing means for preventing such entry of the material into the compartment becomes even more important, as the resulting damage is even more pronounced. Moreover, if the lawn obstruction is large enough, the entire impeller assembly, which drives the distribution plate, may also become damaged. As a result, the motor and shaft of the impeller assembly may have to be replaced or repaired. Accordingly, it would also be desirable to provide some inexpensive means for avoiding damage to the entire impeller assembly when the distribution plate engages a lawn obstruction.
Therefore, it is an overall object of the present invention to provide an improved apparatus for treating lawns which more efficiently and accurately dispenses lawn materials without interferring with the operating mechanisms of the lawn apparatus and which also avoids major damage to the apparatus when a lawn obstruction is encountered.
More specifically, it is an object of this invention to permit the hopper feed openings to uniformly be set to predetermined sizes in order to accurately dispense the desired amounts of material to the lawn and to also avoid the setting from accidentally being changed by jolts during movement of the lawn apparatus across a lawn.
It is a further object of this invention to prevent material from being distributed into the operating compartment of the lawn apparatus and interferring with the operation thereof and to also decrease the amount of lawn material which is wasted.
It is a still further object of this invention to provide a lawn apparatus which is capable of engaging lawn obstructions without major damage resulting to the impeller assembly thereof.